Development of novel anti-scar medications (v1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development of novel anti-scar medications
IRAS ID
338729
Contact name
Selim Cellek
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Anglia Ruskin University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Each year ~4 million individuals suffer some form of burn injury, which, once wound healing has occurred, present as a scar of some form. These can lead to disfiguration, extreme pain & itching and potentially, the loss of function of the affected area. There are no effective treatments to prevent scarring.
We have been working on burn scars in collaboration with Broomfield Burns Unit for more than 5 years. During this time, we have furthered our understanding of how the scars develop and how we can discover new medicines to prevent them. We are now entering scientific collaborations with other academic research institutes and pharmaceutical companies to turn these discoveries into medicines. These collaborations may necessitate sharing tissue and cell samples obtained from the patients.
Tissue samples will be collected from patients being treated at the Broomfield Burns Unit, Essex. Patients will be asked to give fully informed consent before their surgery is due to take place. Tissue samples will be collected from burn patients and also from breast reconstruction patients. The breast tissue will act as control (unburned) tissue so that we can compare it to burned tissue. The specimens will be totally anonymised. There will no additional intervention or change to the surgical procedure/patient care.
The tissue samples will be utilised to obtain cells, proteins and other cellular components which will be used to test chemical and biological compounds in the laboratory. We are also seeking approval to share this material with other academic research institutes or pharmaceutical companies who will be supporting us towards developing new medicines for scarring.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/PR/0344
Date of REC Opinion
29 Apr 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion